Making an Atlatl

Discussion in 'Bushcraft' started by chelloveck, Nov 19, 2015.


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  1. chelloveck

    chelloveck Diabolus Causidicus

    At the risk of raising Kingfisher's ire, here are a couple of YouTube clips on making an atlatl....it may not be as good as a powerful compound bow...but it's better than nothing








     
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  2. Tobit

    Tobit Ham Extra Class

    I need to meet a girl like Lilly. [hrt]
     
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  3. AxesAreBetter

    AxesAreBetter Monkey+++

    Survival Lilly is awesome.

    Atlatl's rock. Takes some getting used to, but the accuracy and depth of penetration is impressive. I make a version of these for our Shop.
     
  4. UncleMorgan

    UncleMorgan I like peeling bananas and (occasionally) people.

    I read somewhere that an atlatl has 15 times the penetrating power of a hand-thrown spear. I don't doubt it in the slightest.
     
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  5. AxesAreBetter

    AxesAreBetter Monkey+++

    Me neither. And a thrown spear has almost twice the velocity of a thrust one.
     
  6. Tobit

    Tobit Ham Extra Class

    trolling for @Kingfish response (yes, I went here)
     
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  7. Kingfish

    Kingfish Self Reliant

    Hi Guys, Back on with windows 7 and able now to play on the net again. I know a guy who killed a deer with a fish spear. Nothing is impossible but the odds that this atlatl WILL FEED YOU if the wold goes to shit is about 99 to one against. I would think that any skills a man or woman can learn before the end is a plus not a detriment. Ill call your Atlatl and raise you one .22 bolt action rifle and a thousand rounds. WHY waste your time and energy on some primitive weapon that will take months if not years to master???? I have mastered the bow, the pistol, the rifle and am now doing what is important. Stocking them deep. Food items, seeds, the ability to pump water and feed my animals. A simple spear would in my opinion be a logical weapon to make and use. From a tree stand over apples or other bait a man with a long heavy spear could kill a deer if he was able to throw without sound. But A large diameter wire snare on bait with a spear to kill the deer is what I would try. Get it snared then come in for the kill. But to all you guys out there. I say build it, learn to use it, hone your skills but do it now. Dont wait until you're out in the woods running for your life with a pocket knife and 50 feet of Para cord. I think relying on primitive weapons in a survival situation is a wet dream for almost everyone on the planet.

    Reality now, Friday the 13th November 2015. 5:03 pm. Sitting a tree stand on my sisters 96 acre horse farm. Three deer came in one was a small spike buck , the other two were a big doe and a Button Buck. The spike came right in and started eating apples. The Big doe saw me just as I saw her. She froze with her eyes locked on me. I wanted her as she was bigger and I had no more time to hunt there before the rifle season started. I slowly moved the crosshairs to the spike who gave me a quartering away shot. I squeezed and the Bolt flew true. The broad head opened as designed and cut a triangled 3 inch hole through both lungs and exited out the other side low and broke the opposite side front leg. The buck went 25 yards . The blood trail was 3 feet wide as he was blowing it out both sides and his nose and mouth. I had him field dressed and in the car in 30 minutes. The first deer I killed with a bow took most of the day to find it . The bow was an old take down recurve Bear 76er 45 pound. The arrow went in about 6 inches getting one lung. With no exit wound there was very little blood. Why would I consider going to even less???????????????????????? . Ill stay with my cross bow until I run out of bolts and heads. Then Ill do head shots with my .22 Rifle from the same sets. 10 to 30 yards. The beauty of the .22 is how versatile they are. Small game? unmatched. Deer ? very effective out to 50 and even 100 yards with proper shot placement. But seriously deadly at 10 to 30 yards and head shots.

    Dont get me wrong Chel. I think Lilly is cool. Now she should go do video of her taking a deer with her Atlatl. That would impress me even more. Can she she get into position to throw? can she throw without alerting her prey? Can she kill animals with it? That is all that matters or should be all that matters to the survivalist.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 23, 2015
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  8. AxesAreBetter

    AxesAreBetter Monkey+++

    I still beg to differ, but we come from different places.

    ATLATL's have a historical precedence for being extremely effective on anything short of steel armor (using stone heads). And why is it always deer? Most nonfirearm weapons excel at all sized game, not jut the medium to large stuff.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 23, 2015
  9. Kingfish

    Kingfish Self Reliant

    After watching again I make these observations. Her camp is already built, her fire wood in place and she is in an area blessed with straight shafts. Wow!!!! Even I might be able to build this without starving first. She has not shown in any way that she can HIT a 5 inch kill zone either. All she showed was that she could toss one about 40 yards and that it would stick in a tree. Come on guys, we are all much wiser then this.

    Because deer in my AO are the most abundant game animal that can feed you. Smaller animals are even harder to hit. But hey if it was easy or effective the net would be loaded with hundreds of kill shot videos and it isnt. The plain fact is it is not easy or effective.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 23, 2015
  10. AxesAreBetter

    AxesAreBetter Monkey+++

    A lot of people make real swords, too, and you ain't finding any of those videos either.
     
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  11. Kingfish

    Kingfish Self Reliant

    I killed my second deer of the season with a heart shot using a 30-06 rifle. Deer went 30 feet. Freezer full now thinking about some whitefish.

    A sword is a great close range defense weapon. But it wont feed you will it?

    I think that anyone who can master these primitive weapons and make kills with them are the top echelon of all survivalists. There are very few who can and do . I am not one of them and do not try and make others think that they are either. These weapons are hard to master and hard to feed yourself with end of debate.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 23, 2015
  12. chelloveck

    chelloveck Diabolus Causidicus

    You had to do it, Tobit....You just had to do it! :ROFLMAO:
     
  13. Ganado

    Ganado Monkey+++

    Without practice its out of the range of most of our skills, that doesn't mean its not a good post with a good idea. Just like every other skill from gardening to firing weapons or H.A.M operations.
     
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  14. Kingfish

    Kingfish Self Reliant

    Exactly. Call me practical if you must. I dont have the time to prove or disprove any of these weapons. However, I keep seeing them brought up on survival boards . Survival is a funny word . To me it means staying alive in any situation. The more tools I have the better, the more food , the better, the more fuel, the better. The Bow, spear, Atlatl, sling, slingshot and most every ancient weapon was replaced by the musket. Today the Musket has been replaced with the modern rifle. The bow has been improved to the point it is a space aged projectile throwing device made up of pulleys, cables and carbon,metal etc. Broad heads have come s far that to use stone is ridiculous. Even if the world completely goes belly up there will be plenty of metal laying around, bows to be found, ammunition caches to find and functional guns.

    I do wish I had a couple hundred acres so I could offer up a survival challenge every year. Contestants putting their hunting skills to the ultimate test. Make a kill or tap out. Last Sunday was the 15th of November , Opening day of Firearm deer season. Tonight I am cutting her up . She was one of the biggest does I have ever shot. Over 150 pounds dressed. That afternoon I watched around 35 Squirrels raiding my bait. They were carrying apples, carrots and corn off to the trees. I pondered the Idea of how to harvest them quietly. A primitive weapon never once came to mind. I ended up coming to the conclusion that a pellet gun would be the quietest and most effective followed by my .22 shooting shorts or CCI Quiets. Bottom line I could have killed more than I could carry with a rifle. To hurl a long stick at one doesnt make any sense to me. Not practical.
     
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  15. AxesAreBetter

    AxesAreBetter Monkey+++

    You trap squirrels in that situation. It's not called a squirrel stick for a reason, and rabbit sticks are so crappy they are an improvised hunting tool that does not really merit being called a weapon.
     
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  16. Kingfish

    Kingfish Self Reliant

    My wife just put this in perspective. She said until you are faced with death You will not know how your skill sets will work. Yup I went out into the woods and made it a few days but I had home to go to. Faced with certain death if you cant find water and food, shelter,etc. What tools do you KNOW BEYOND A DOUBT will sustain you and be there for as long as it takes. That my friends is the truth. Children, women, family, etc? Will they share your enthusiasm ? Will they burn the calories to help you find the materials to build this Stick throwing device? No one I know would put their life in the hands of such a weapon.
     
  17. Kingfish

    Kingfish Self Reliant

    Oh yes , trapping is one of the best ways to get food. And not talked about near enough. Hell one live trap and a bag of corn could keep me in squirrels for months. Even quieter then a pellet gun. I would use both as I have a small live trap. Snares and traps need a forum all their own.
     
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  18. AxesAreBetter

    AxesAreBetter Monkey+++

    I hang out with living historians, so I can tell you from experience that they will "wait around" and do what else needs doing while the most expert(s) in the group build the kit they don't have and need. Then we will hit the bush.

    It's not even like it takes all that much to make an atlatl. Beats the heck out of a bow. The biggest problem I have encountered is that no one knows the correct stance/position to start from. Comparatively simple after that...gonna have to scrounge me up some rookies...
     
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  19. Kingfish

    Kingfish Self Reliant

    I have no doubt that I could build an Atlatl that would launch a heavy enough lance and If I tipped it with a razor blade broad head would penetrate and kill and good size deer. However I would have to hit one first. The real problem with such a weapon is the amount of Body movement required to launch the projectile. Could one be used from a tree??? I have never seen one used from an elevated platform. This is why the crossbow is so deadly just slowly raise the weapon center the sights on target and squeeze. Animals react very quickly to motion and sound. In my opinion excessive motion is the down side to this weapon.
     
  20. AxesAreBetter

    AxesAreBetter Monkey+++

    Done right, you just kind of drop forward as you whip your arm down (very simplified). I will agree that there is a lot of motion, but certainly no more than lifting a firearm or bow into position, that I have seen.

    You don't aim down your shaft or anything silly like that when you use an atlatl do you?
     
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